Kakao has always been a force to be reckoned with. Here we look at his past and how he impacts Invictus Gaming
This Thursday, the 2015 World Championships will start with Fnatic playing against on Invictus Gaming. Fnatic went undefeated in the regular season in Europe, while iG secured the Chinese third seed. For iG, the eyes will be set on the two Korean star players, Eui-jin "RooKie" Song and Byung-kwon "KaKAO" Lee. However, the latter is a player to look out for. KaKAO, former jungler of both the KT Bullets and Arrows (KTA), is arguably the best jungler coming into Worlds.
Of the best junglers of the last couple years, KaKAO is the one that always is forgotten. He was part of the miraculous Bullets team of 2013 that came one game short to beating SKT in the finals of Champions Summer 2013. The same team featured Sang-ook "Ryu" Yoo and In-seok "inSec"Choi, who played toplane at the time. After the winter season that followed, KaKAO moved to KT Arrows, the second team of the organization at the time.
During the 2014 spring split, OGN had a round robin group draw. It was a historical moment when KaKAO picked SKT S into group A, which already had SKT K and KTA. He stated that he would bring down the SKT organization, which he eventually did. He pulled the 2-0 upset on the champions of last season. During 2014 summer, KaKAO made one of the biggest carry performances ever at the finals. The Arrows were down 1-2 against the Spring champions Samsung Blue, but KaKAO pulled it around.
KaKAO and the Arrows ended up winning the series, securing the first OGN title for KT Rolster. However, the team failed to win the gauntlets for Worlds, when NaJin Shield made their 9-1 run.
KaKAO and RooKie then signed a contract with Invictus Gaming to play in China. They had identical runs during Spring and Summer, having the record of 8-8-6 in both seasons. It gave them 5th place during Spring but 3rd during Summer. In both seasons, they finished 3rd in playoffs.
However, iG could be so much more. Their biggest problem is their inconsistency. In the series against QG during playoffs, they bounced between brilliance and stupidness. RooKie and KaKAO are major factors in their team’s performances. If they can’t take control of the game, iG has nothing to bring. But when KaKAO gets RooKie rolling, they will dominate the game until there is nothing left of the opponent. In the final game of the 3rd place match of playoffs, RooKie went 13-1, which brought Won-seok "PawN" Heo a miserable score of 2-8.
With his play against Samsung Blue he earned the name ‘OGNKacakle.’ After the LPL playoffs, he has added the title, ‘LPLKacackle,’ to the list. If iG wants to shine at worlds, then ‘WorldsKacackle’ is going to be needed.
